Starlite Motel is the name of the motel in Kerkhonkson, New York, where this band stayed while recording their critically acclaimed album Awosting Falls (Clean Feed Records, 2016). It is an exclusive ensemble, with four musicians from Norway and the US, and their musique sounds just as unique: a mix of jazz, free improv and dreamy psychedelic rock. The BIMHUIS offers the rare opportunity to catch the group live.
Hammond B3-organist and keyboard player Jamie Saft made name in John Zorn’s bands, for example Electric Masada. Bass guitarist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, Norwegian born and now living in Texas, is known from The Thing and the bands of Ken Vandermark. Norwegian saxophonist Kristoffer Berre Alberts brought noise to jazz domains with partners like Lasse Marhaug and Maja Ratkje. Drummer Gard Nilssen, who’s also from Norway, has played the BIMHUIS with bands such as Puma, Bushman’s Revenge, Cortex and Acoustic Unity.
‘This is a very interesting band that has a wide open range: combining free jazz with progressive rock and brief brushes of psychedelia to make for a very alluring and original sound. It is only a quartet that makes the music on this album, but it sounds much larger because of the instruments they play, and they are constantly swapping different versions of their instruments to get different sounds’ (Music and More).
Kristoffer Alberts saxophone, Jamie Saft Hammond B3 organ/keys, Ingebrigt Håker Flaten bass , Gard Nilssen drums